(Part 1 - Intro)
Hello all. My name is Josh and a few months ago I picked up a 86 GW. When I was younger (around 21) a buddy of mine had a lifted 89 GW that was the coolest thing. I had a 67 Coupe DeVille and one weekend we swapped vehicles and I knew one day I would end up with one. Fast forward 20+ years. I began looking at picking one up a couple of years back. I saw the prices and couldn't believe how much a fairly nice conditioned one was going for. I had/have ZERO wrenching experience so I was hoping to get something that was well maintained. About a year ago I stumbled onto several FSJ forums and started reading up on all the various issues these vehicles suffer from. I kept reading over and over again about how the bad design of the Wagoneers made them susceptible to rusting. I live in SoCal so I narrowed my search to vehicles in the area. As my search continued I realized I would need to expand my search to include the entire country lol. But again anything to my untrained eye that appeared to be in good shape was EXPENSIVE, in the 20K-35K range!
A buddy of mine who I work with was trying to convince to me to pick up something as cheap as possible and then dump money into getting it to the point where I would be happy. While I have a construction background working on cars was something that was so foreign to me the thought of taking on a project that would last months or years even wasn't something that was appealing to me. I figured, pay now or pay later and decided I'd "pay now" for one of the nicer ones.
Finally back in July I located 3 Wagoneers that I had narrowed my search to. 1 in Michigan, 1 in AZ and 1 in Washington State. They were all around the same price (25K I know it's high I've read plenty of threads) and similar miles. Visually the one in Michigan was exactly what I was looking for (exterior/interior wise). So that was my 1st pick. Unfortunately once I received pics of the undercarriage I had to immediately rule it out. My next pick was the one in WA. It was lifted and the interior/exterior looked immaculate. I wasn't too crazy about the color of neither the interior or exterior but it looked perfectly straight and the back seats (based on the pics) looked like they had never been sat in. But it was in WA and I had never purchased a vehicle from out of state and that kind of made me nervous. It was also right at the top of my price range and factoring the shipping cost it would leave me with no money left in case it needed immediate attention for any mechanical issues. I decided to pursue the one in AZ because I would be able to drive to the location and spend some time getting it checked out. Based on the pics it looked well taken care of. Some noticeable rust on the tailgate, interior was in good condition and some rust underneath. While it too was at the top of my price range, I wouldn't have to pay for shipping and the owner was going to allow me to have it checked by an independent mechanic. The earliest I could go out there to visit was going to be two weeks. I got an Email a week later saying it was sold.
I was pretty bummed out and decided that I would hold off from getting a Waggy at this point. I stopped looking for about a month went back online and noticed the one in WA was still available, but they had dropped the price by 5K! First thing I thought was, what's wrong with it. It was the cleanest looking Wagoneer I had seen in the year I was looking. I called the dealer up and started asking questions. Since it had been in their inventory for a while I figured they were desperate to move it. The history on the vehicle showed it being owned by 1 owner for 25 years, in Minnesota. Next thought that popped up was RUST. The sales guy told me they had it checked out and it needed a carb tune-up and the AC wasn't working. Besides that there were a few minor cosmetic issues but that was it, it was clean. I negotiated the price down an additional 2K based on the stated issues and shipping. I asked if they could send me pics of the undercarriage and he said he'd get it on the lift and shoot me pics ASAP.
When I received the pics I immediately called him up and told him to send me the paperwork so I can sign and get it shipped. I'm not sure what they did or what any of the previous owners did but it looked like it had never seen dirt in its life. The Carfax showed it had been in one minor accident and thats it. I know Carfax can't and doesn't tell the whole story but it appeared that it exchanged several hands within a year (I'm assuming at auctions) before it got registered here in Cali and then sold (at an auction) to the dealer in WA.
My initial thought was great, if it was last registered here in Cali it should pass smog. I was feeling great! I had money left over to fix what was stated upfront and still be under what I was willing to pay. Life was good! Or so I thought
Some pics